


Afghanistan

by BluntHarpoon



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-05-20 09:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14892398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluntHarpoon/pseuds/BluntHarpoon
Summary: Since not enough stories are written on the Afghanistan mission...





	1. The Cave

**Author's Note:**

> New writer here. I am posting it even though it's a work in progress. I would like some constructive criticism and suggestions as I am trying to tie it all in. Chapters will be small but I'll try to post one every day.

He wasn’t sure what was going on anymore. His vision was blurry. Everything hurt. Nothing made sense anymore. At least Catherine was safe. He had refused to accept his fate and just made his last attempt to escape obvious death by decapitation. A failed attempt.

Danny was going to be so pissed!

Beheading from behind seemed wrong. He was a soldier. He should have been allowed to face his executioner.

Suddenly, his hair was free and guys bending his arms back at an impossible and painful angle seemed to have left him alone. It was loud and that didn’t help his headache. Or hearing for that matter. On instinct, he moved away from all the noise and bright light to a dark corner. He was so done with this game of cat and mouse. Maybe if he could find something to fight back with, go down fighting instead of being cornered like prey, but no such luck.

And then there was this guy crouching over him. He was also speaking to him, but Steve could not make out what was being said over the ringing in his ears. That grenade had done a number on him and the beatings that followed hadn’t helped. No water and no sleep since he was captured added to the overall wretchedness of the situation.

“Commander McGarrett?” The guy asked, and this time Steve could make out the words. The guy sounded American. It was dark, and his eyelids were swollen but he could have made out the insignia on the guy’s BDUs.

But Steve had reached his limits. Had this guy been the enemy, he would have known who Steve was. His reputation apparently preceded him. He confirmed his identity, not sure what laid ahead. Next few moments were the most quiet that he had experienced in the past however many hours. Days. Nobody was screaming at him anymore. It lulled him to sleep. He wasn’t sure he was safe but what with not getting beaten up, after the adrenaline rush following two attempts at beheading, his body just decided to check out, his brain following suit.


	2. The Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rescue. It's brief, but I hope you guys are okay with that by now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New writer here. I would love some constructive criticism, some feedback, some reviews, some love from you fine people.

They knew every second was precious to the rescue operation. Despite the agency’s misgivings, they did not want to leave one of their own behind, especially since the guy had a near-legendary status among the Special Ops/Black Ops community. Army of one man. Who wasn’t even _from_ the Army.

What they didn’t know before they got there, though, was that had they been even two seconds late, their rescue operation would have turned into a recovery operation. This was no way for a brave man, a war hero, to die. Once the dust settled, the major moved behind the upturned table to find their missing SEAL. The guy seemed to be in bad shape, covering his head with his arms. It took him three attempts before the Commander responded and removed his arms from around his head. One of his eyes was closed shut, most likely an orbital fracture. His face and whatever skin was visible were littered with cuts and bruises, both old and new. And he wasn’t tracking. This man needed Medevac. And fast.

After the all-clear was given, two medics came into the cave with a stretcher and some supplies.

McGarrett was out cold by then. He didn’t seem to be bleeding seriously but his pulse was fast and thready. The medics cleaned both his arms and hands to find a vein but despite the size of the veins visible, they were all collapsed, indicating dehydration or serious internal hemorrhage, or both. His left arm was abandoned because of the wound high up on his arm, rendering it useless for placement of an IV. After multiple failed attempts at getting an IV running, they passed the cannula in his neck vein and started running fluids into him. Rest would have to wait until they got him to the base infirmary. A quick triage revealed a dislocated shoulder, broken clavicle, gunshot to the left arm, swollen wrists, a bruised abdominal wall with an obvious hematoma, and some broken ribs. Broken ribs plus tachycardia could mean he was bleeding inside his chest cavity, which also meant that they had to hurry up. The nasal cannula in place, they rolled him onto the stretcher and moved.

This guy was most likely on borrowed time.


	3. The Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny's POV. Also the last chapter for now.

Danny looked at Steve’s face again. Steve looked bad. Even after his ordeal in North Korea at the hands of Wo Fat, he had walked out on his own two feet. The fact that he collapsed the moment he stepped off the chopper in South Korea was beside the point. And how they got him back to the States was something that still gave Danny nightmares. This time, though, despite it being over 24 hours since he was rescued from the clutches of Taliban, Steve still hadn’t woken up. He had to undergo surgery to fix the damage around his rotator cuff, this time being his left shoulder. Danny didn’t want to think about the kind of force that was needed to dislocate the shoulder of someone like Steve. There was also the issue of shrapnel injuries to his torso from a _grenade_?

Served him right, storing grenades in his car.

Or maybe not.

But the biggest concerns were the concussion and the hemothorax for which he needed a chest tube. There was still some blood coming out of his chest, though doctors had reassured him that it was slowing down and was not a major cause for concern. To Danny, it was not slowing down fast enough. Watching that thick tube disappearing under Steve’s gown was just too much. He couldn’t sit on the left side of Steve’s bed even if he had wanted to.

And to think they passed the chest tube en-route to the base, on a chopper. The idea alone made him nauseous.

He decided to focus on the man, instead. This crazy, loyal man who would go to any lengths for those he considered his. His friends, his family. The emphatic way he always said the word ‘Ohana’ - cheesy and over the top as it may have sounded- could not belie the truth behind it. Steve lived and breathed the word. People exploited this blind spot his friend and partner had, and whether Steve knew that or not never seemed to matter to him because it didn’t change how he would react to situations that needed his varied and extensive skillset. The man had the self-preservation skills of a gnat, both from emotional and physical consequences of his _need_ to be there for those who needed him.

That line of thought made him think of Catherine, the latest on the list of those who needed Steve. Catherine’s diverting government satellites to help Steve out was more than paid for by this single mission of hers, even though he was sure Steve would not see it as a payback for all those times. Truth was, right this moment, he was feeling extremely resentful if not downright angry at Catherine. How di diverting satellites and getting intelligence for Steve gave her the right to get him captured by Taliban?

Apparently, Steve’s IOUs to other people could never be paid back.

Danny shook his head vigorously to get rid of the anger and looked at Steve’s face again.

Once he was awake and coherent, which might take some time considering the concussion and another myriad of injuries, Danny was going to give him a piece of his mind. Loudly. The man was a menace, to be honest. How he had survived as a SEAL and as a Naval Intelligence officer was anyone’s guess, what with his expressive face, pathological inability to lie, and the need to jump into every available trouble. Or creating trouble where there was none to be found.

And yet, Danny, the non-believer, sent a silent prayer for his buddy, his crazy-ass partner, to whoever was listening. For his preservation, his long, long life, preferably with all his body parts intact, with fewer hospital stays – because he was ever the pragmatist and knew that asking for no hospital stays ever again would be asking for a miracle and miracles were not really for people like him.

But for people like Steve, he always hoped for a few. Including not losing his sanity due to his daredevil partner.

And lastly, he prayed for Steve’s happiness. This man deserved some good karma for all he did for everyone around him. He deserved a break!

Steve was the biggest tether he had to all things good, right after Grace, when it came to all things Hawaii.

But nobody needed to know that, least of all Steve himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any suggestions on what to put next? I was thinking of putting in a short chapter about Catherine, and then maybe a little chapter about the team, especially Grover since he is new to this madness, and then Steve's POV. What do you guys say?


	4. Catherine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catherine contemplates her motives and actions.

This was her fault. There was no doubt about that. She had embarked on a personal mission, noble as it was, and now Steve was in Taliban’s hands. A decorated Navy SEAL was a very high-value target, and with his NI background, Steve was like a windfall to the terrorists. Under usual circumstances, despite the odds, she knew Steve had a good chance of escaping before they got close to wherever they were taking him. But under usual circumstances, capturing Steve would not have been this easy to begin with.

She had seen how he was blown away by the explosion, and how he bounced off of the hood of the truck. If the explosion hadn’t disoriented him, that impact definitely would have. And that meant he would be in no position to make an escape. Not before they had subdued him completely.

This was all her fault.

She could not think about what they were going to do to him. He was probably one of the most important targets captured by the Taliban, and with his Naval Intelligence credentials, he was also, albeit potentially, very useful – if they could break him. And while she knew how tough Steve was, torture could break anyone. Being already injured, probably concussed, Steve’s guard was going to be down. Any form of enhanced interrogation was not going to bode well for him with what he had stored in his mind.

He needed to be rescued, as fast as was humanly possible, and not just for his own sake, but for the sake of national security as well. But there was no way she could compromise her own mission or Steve’s sacrifice would go in vain. It made her grimace when she thought that Steve’s _sacrifice_ was of her making, not necessarily of his own choice. He would never have left her alone like this, there was no question about that. He would have rescued her even if it cost him his own life. She would have been his first priority, rescuing Najib, a close second. There was less chance of Najib dying in the next few hours than Steve. But she had frozen. She got rattled by the quick turn of events. She left him behind. Not what a SEAL would do. Never in a million years would it be something that Steve would do.

She had failed him.

But he was SuperSEAL, as Danny kept saying after some of Steve’s less than wise stunts.

She should call Danny. She should have called Joe, but Joe had agendas and while she did not think he would refuse to help rescue Steve, she could never be a hundred percent sure. But Danny, now Danny would do everything in his power to get Steve out. For a civilian with absolutely zero combat experience, Danny was a force of nature. He was as loyal to Steve as Steve was to him, and that was a rare thing to imagine because NOBODY was as loyal as Steve.

Except Danny.

She needed to get in touch with folk at Bagram AFB as well. They needed to know that a high value asset was captured by Taliban and that he was injured so they could get the ball rolling for the rescue.

For all the times that Steve asked for favors from her, she had never imagined that she would end up asking for something like this, something that could hurt him, or get him killed. She realized that subconsciously, she wanted his help, or she would have made sure he did not find out about her mission. Soon as he knew, she knew that he would do everything to help her. Deep down, she realized that was why she let him know, so he would come with her and help her. There was no one better at this kind of missions than Steve.

What was she thinking? She used him because of his skills, and because she knew he loved her and would do anything for her.

And then she let him get captured by Taliban. Instead of going after him, or even preventing him from getting caught, she hid in the fields and let them take him away.

Her mission was more important than Steve. There was no other way of looking at things. She had become Doris!

And to think she accused Joe of having agendas...

She felt bile rise in her throat, but she had kids to protect, and another kid to rescue.

There would be time for self-recrimination. This wasn’t it.

She needed to do what she could for Steve.

She needed to call Danny!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next is Steve's point of view.


	5. 5a - Steve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I lost my files and login info. Now I am back.   
> Next part will be posted today as well. I am just proofing it.  
> Thank you for reading :]

He was alive!

It was bright but blurry. He could feel his left eye refusing to open. His Vision was limited but it was obvious that he was not in that cave anymore.

His nose was not cooperating either. It felt stuffed. There was something pulling at his chest on his left side. His memories were a little fuzzy, but he knew there was something important that was escaping him in the haze of drugs.

He remembered the rescue, if only in bits and pieces. And how close he had come to dying. He was happy to be alive. But more than that, he was happy not to have died like that. He had known since he was 16 that an untimely death was always a possibility, a fact that was reinforced by Annapolis, and then his work as a SEAL. Dying at the hands of the enemy was more likely to happen than not, especially once he joined the SEALs. That was the job. That was the life. But being captured, being helpless, being beheaded while being filmed, that was not how he wanted to die at all, ever! And to think Mary would have seen that. And Danny. And oh, dear God, Gracie. Or Chin or Kono or Lou.

Knowing personally what it did to someone when they witnessed the horrifying execution of a loved one, he never wanted to inflict that horror on anyone.

He was glad he wasn’t dead. If not for his sake, then for his ohana…

\---

Danny was here. That made no sense, and yet, it made all the sense in the world. Danny, who berated him before he left, because this time he told him where he was headed to avoid the berating. That definitely was not a sound strategy. The yelling was high pitched. And yet, once shit hit the fan, he was here. Apparently, Catherine called Danny because she knew, just like everyone else who knew Danny, that he was a force to reckon with, who was loyal to a fault, who would come after his reckless friend and partner to the end of the world, who would never give up on Steve.

Danny was here, and he could sleep.


	6. The Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally finishing it. I got stuck and decided to finish it in Afghanistan instead of carrying over the story to Steve and Danny's arrival back home. I might do another, sort of a sequel, but since it has been done so often and so well by so many, I'm still on the fence. Your feedback might decide what I do next.  
> Thank you for reading, commenting, and encouraging a newbie.

\---

Once his lung had fully expanded and the trickle of blood had stopped, they were going to remove the chest tube. The tube tugged at his chest wall painfully and he was so not a fan. And his physical woes were not even close to the worry and helplessness he was feeling for leaving Catherine behind. That was not in his code. Not as a man, and not as a SEAL. He had rationalized Catherine’s choice. He knew he wouldn’t have done what she did, no matter how many times he told himself that. He would never have left her behind or let her get caught by the most vicious enemies. 

Except he had. He had to. And that was killing him. 

At least she was not captured by the Taliban. 

And then there was Danny. The way he had spoken with the people who came to talk to him could not have endeared him to any of the troops deployed, especially if the story of his refusal to cooperate and Danny’s insulting tone leaked. And it was only a few weeks since the building collapsed on them, with Danny getting injured enough to earn hospital stay. Flying into a combat zone, on a military transport, without any military training, mounting a rescue…

Danny was a force of nature for sure. Steve did not want him to face any hardship because of his choices, and he was fretting now.

That was when Danny entered the room, smiling.

“Hey, you are awake! How are you?”

And before Steve could open his mouth to say he was fine, “And don’t say you are fine, or I’ll bust rest of your ribs, I swear!”, making Steve click his mouth shut, which shot a tendril of pain up the left side of his face, and into his skull.

“I’ll live?”

And suddenly, all the good cheer left Danny’s face, replaced with tiredness and worry. Steve hated that expression on Danny’s face. And more so, when he was the reason for putting that expression there. Danny was the best, most moral man Steve knew, and yet, he had broken God knows how many laws to come to Afghanistan after him, then getting the brass to haul ass. Only Steve knew how close he had come to becoming a recovery rather than a rescue.

“I’ll live, he says. You, my friend, are certifiably insane. Of course, you’ll live. You are the infamous, notorious, mystical SuperSEAL, that everyone wants to shake hands and drink beers with. Since you are also famously stingy when it comes to paying for beer back home, not to mention looking like a microwaved corpse who should stay away from drinking any alcohol for the foreseeable future, I have shaken every hand and drunk every beer on your behalf.”

“What do you mean?” Steve wanted to ask why Danny was drinking beer, why was he offered beer, how did they, whoever  _ they _ were, offered him any beer, and why would they want to shake his hand, but seeing Danny regain his color and composure was a balm to his soul, and hearing him rant, with his arms waving, was the best medicine.

“I thought it was just Hawaii where everyone knew you. Who knew your reputation as the crazy head of Five-O has reached Afghanistan as well. You got yourself some serious fanboys, Steven! They have heard the stories of your craziness, and there were some among the troops who knew you from your work here, some  _ classified mission _ Army crap. So some of those guys bought me beer because they wanted to commiserate with me once they found out I was your partner, and others wanted to buy  _ you _ beer, but when I told them of your wallet never being where it is supposed to be, not to mention booze was not on your diet plan for at least a few weeks, they bought me that beer instead.” 

_ WOW! _

Danny could TALK!

“What are you smiling at, you goof? And what was with the aneurysm face from before? You didn’t think I left you here, did you?”

How the thought hadn’t even crossed his mind surprised Steve.

“I never thought you left me, Danno!” His voice became somber and grave, despite his desire to keep it light. 

“You, my friend, are a giant marshmallow. A little scorched on the outside right now, but definitely a gooey, sweet center somewhere deep inside. That and the rubber face you have makes me wonder how you ever became a Naval Intelligence asset or got through SEAL school.” Danny was touched by the implicit trust Steve placed in him so casually. The guy really had no reason to trust anyone, let alone be there for them the way he tried and almost always succeeded, despite the personal cost.

The thought brought forth the current predicament and the cause behind it: Catherine.

In some ways, Catherine and Steve really were a little too much alike, but in so many other ways, Steve was so completely selfless and self-sacrificing, it made Danny’s teeth ache. His own life and wellbeing were at the bottom of his priority list. That’s why he needed his team so much. Guy had the self-preservation skills of a gnat. How he survived all those years as a SEAL, let alone accomplish so much in such a short duration defied logic and common sense.

Steve was one of the smartest, bravest, and the best men Danny had known. 

He was also one of the dumbest men Danny had ever known.

His faith in his team, especially in Danny, always surprised Danny. For someone who never had any reason to trust any kind of family, Steve excelled at the whole trust business. At least his team returned Steve’s trust and love in spades, unlike his own family.

Oh, well!

To him, some things were sacrosanct and above any shadow of a doubt. One of them was his love for Gracie. The other was his love and trust for this man.

Danny was going to make sure Steve never got a reason to stop trusting him. 

 

**The End**


End file.
